The Painted Word

Have you ever been lost in a painting that tells a story without words? Have you ever wanted to make paintings that people can get lost in, letting them come to their own decisions about what the piece is saying to them?  Have you ever wondered how to evoke a feeling through the emotional use of color and line? If so, then join us as we journal into the wonderful world of visual poetry.  

In this workshop we’ll explore the language of vision, investigating our own symbolic meaning and how this meaning translates to the viewer. We’ll delve into the topography of our psyches, and make a series of journal paintings that tell a story without words. We will become visual poets.  

We’ll start by accessing the deep resources of our imagination through word/image/memory exercises to loosen up our flow. Based on a selection of photographic images, we will dive deeply into our personal symbology, and we’ll transpose them into fragmented prose and random imagery. Using our journals, and larger “flow sheets” our discoveries will be laid down indiscriminately, becoming the foundation of, or the emotional touchstone for, our paintings. We’ll consider how line, color, composition and balance creates mood and atmosphere, all the while staying rooted in our own visions.  

 In the safe harbor of our journals we’ll create a series of stories, coming from a single thread, a moment in time, an encapsulation of past and present emotion and symbolic beauty.

Supply List

• 2-4 sheets of 140lb cold press watercolor paper ( Fabriano is preferred because it’s great.)  
• A couple of journals (different sizes are good) that can withstand water media (Moleskine Sketch books are choice.)  
• Watercolor brushes –assortment of shapes and sizes (big-ish, medium and small)
• A flat painter’s brush (decent quality - we don’t want it to shed) or foam brushes  
• Watercolor paints in tubes (your choice of color but make sure you have the primaries – ( cadmium yellow, cadmium red light or cadmium red medium, ultramarine blue.) Sap green,     cobalt blue, ochre, sienna, umbers are nice too.
• A couple tubes of gouache for accents (your choice, but think “accents”)
• Tube of China White watercolor
• Large tube of titanium white gouache
• Golden absorbent ground
• -Gesso
• -Pallet tray (or mixing tray of some sort)
• Drawing pencils –2h, hb, 2b, 4b, 6b, 9b (or any combination of h and b)
• Pencil sharpener (small hand held)
• Kneaded eraser
• White eraser
• Micron pens
• Anything you like to make marks with
• 2 wide mouth jars
• Small squirt bottle (optional)
• Cotton rags (cloth diapers are great! Or (non-terry) dish towel)
• Scissors and/ or exacto knife
• Paper towels
• drafting tape